Regent Inns buys 3i-backed bar operator
Regent Inns has announced the acquisition of a small bar operator that was backed by venture capital group 3i.
It has bought Pals Leisure Group and Vered, which jointly own two venue bars in Croydon, Surrey (pictured), and Ipswich, Suffolk, for just over £2m.
The deal comes as Regent is rumoured to have agreed in principle to acquire the 34-strong Pitcher & Piano bar chain for about £70m.
A Regent spokesman said: "The two Pals bars are strong-performing units and will continue to operate as Pals bars as part of Regent's unbranded pub estate."
Pals was formed in 1995 by chief executive Danny Rose when the Croydon outlet was opened. It grew to four sites, including two others in Hampton Court, Surrey, in April 1996 and Birmingham in June 1998.
Three years ago, it received a cash injection of £2.3m from venture capital group 3i so it could open another four bars in 1998 and two more in 1999.
Pals was lining up for "significant expansion" by floating on the shares market by 2000, but a shift in the pub sector on the stock exchange has ruled this out.
Since then, the company, based in Esher, Surrey, has rationalised down to the two sites that have been sold to Regent.
Mr Rose, 50, whose previous ventures include the Limelight nightclub in London's West End, said he intended to take a break from the trade.
Regent has not commented on speculation that it has agreed a deal to buy Pitcher & Piano, which is part of Wolverhampton & Dudley Breweries (W&DB).
According to press reports, it has been in advanced talks with W&DB, which intends to sell Pitcher & Piano as part of a 170-strong package of managed and tenanted pubs.
But Regent has apparently also agreed terms to buy the bars if W&DB is sold to tenanted pub group Pubmaster. It would acquire them directly from Pubmaster or from Noble House Leisure, which is ready to buy 290 of W&DB's managed houses from Pubmaster.
Several pub operators have been said to be vying for the Pitcher & Piano chain, including SFI Group and Barracuda Group.
Regent is ready for a deal after a management restructuring last year that helped its share price revive from 107.5p at Christmas to nearly 200p last month.
Regent is focused on rolling out its Walkabout Inns brand and developing the Jongleurs comedy clubs and related Bar-Risa bars. It already has a number of bars operating in the same sector as Pitcher & Piano, such as Bar Monaco and Pals.
The first Pitcher & Piano opened in London in 1986 and was taken over by Staffordshire brewer Marston's in the mid-1990s. After Marston's was swallowed up by W&DB, the chain has continued to grow and now stretches from Glasgow to Swansea to Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
